During examination of and/or surgery on the eyeball, the eyelids are normally maintained in an open or retracted position by eyelid retracting devices which normally include hooked members adapted to engage and retract the eyelids. Typical examples of such known types of eyelid retractors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,230,873; 1,375,445; 2,438,646 and 2,702,540. It is also known to retract the eyelid by utilizing a "bridle" suture which involves inserting a suture thread through the eyelid and securing the ends of the suture at a remote location to maintain the eyelids in a retracted position. A special frame is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,925 for securing the outermost ends of the suture thread when the eyelids are retracted by suture threads.
While the eyelids are retained in retracted condition by the above-described known eyelid retracting devices or by use of the bridle suture, such eyelid retracting devices and the bridle suture do not fully cover and shield the eyelashes, and thus the eyelashes may interfere with the examination of and/or surgery on the eyeball. To eliminate any obstruction by the eyelashes during the examination of and/or surgery on the eyeball, it is presently the common practice to cut or trim the eyelashes from the eyelids of the patient. This practice is tedious and time consuming and leaves the patient without eyelashes until new eyelashes can be grown. Also, the cut eyelashes may be deposited in the eye and additional time is consumed in removing the same.
It is also recognized that during surgical procedures of the eye, there is a risk of bacterial contamination from the adjacent lid skin surface and lid mucous membrane surface, and the present lid retracting techniques do not fully avoid this risk.